Showdown looms over Longmont drilling

JIM RYDBOM/jrydbom@greeleytribune.com
A welcome to Greeley sign greets people on North 11th Avenue and H Street as an oil/gas rig operated by Mineral Resources Inc. lights up the night sky this week in north Greeley. Mineral Resources Inc. is drilling 22 wells near the Island Grove Regional Park area. Currently there are about 400 wells within the Greeley city limits.

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The fight over a community’s ability to regulate natural-gas drilling is headed to a Boulder County courtroom, although the issue at hand will be one of jurisdiction, not safety.The Colorado Oil and Natural Gas Conservation Commission on July 30 filed suit against the city of Longmont, claiming an ordinance recently passed by the city would “undermine” the state’s role in regulating the oil and gas industry. The complaint was filed in Boulder County District Court by the state Attorney General’s office, which is acting on behalf of the commission.The ordinance cites the dramatic increase in the number of wells in Colorado, concerns about the safety of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and possible health impacts.The state finds several provisions of the ordinance objectionable, including provisions that would exclude drilling from residential areas and require companies to use directional drilling and consolidate drilling operations.